Title 29 CFR Part 1904

Occupational Safety and Health Admin., Labor

§ 1904.1

Subpart F—Transition From the Former Rule

Part 1904—Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and
Illnesses

1904.43 Summary and posting of year 2000
data.
1904.44 Retention and updating of old forms.
1904.45 OMB control numbers under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Sec.

Subpart A—Purpose
1904.0

Subpart G—Definitions

Purpose.
1904.46

Subpart B—Scope

Definitions.

AUTHORITY: 29 U.S.C. 657, 658, 660, 666, 669,
673, Secretary of Labor’s Order No. 3–2000 (65
FR 50017), and 5 U.S.C. 533.

1904.1 Partial exemption for employers with
10 or fewer employees.
1904.2 Partial exemption for establishments
in certain industries.
1904.3 Keeping records for more than one
agency.
NON-MANDATORY APPENDIX A TO SUBPART B—
PARTIALLY EXEMPT INDUSTRIES.

SOURCE: 66 FR 6122, Jan. 19, 2001, unless
otherwise noted.

Subpart A—Purpose
§ 1904.0

Purpose.

The purpose of this rule (Part 1904) is
to require employers to record and report work-related fatalities, injuries
and illnesses.

Subpart C—Recordkeeping Forms and
Recording Criteria
1904.4 Recording criteria.
1904.5 Determination of work-relatedness.
1904.6 Determination of new cases.
1904.7 General recording criteria.
1904.8 Recording criteria for needlestick and
sharps injuries.
1904.9 Recording criteria for cases involving
medical removal under OSHA standards.
1904.10 Recording criteria for cases involving occupational hearing loss.
1904.11 Recording criteria for work-related
tuberculosis cases.
1904.13–1904.28 [Reserved]
1904.29 Forms.

NOTE TO § 1904.0: Recording or reporting a
work-related injury, illness, or fatality does
not mean that the employer or employee was
at fault, that an OSHA rule has been violated, or that the employee is eligible for
workers’ compensation or other benefits.

Subpart B—Scope
NOTE TO SUBPART B: All employers covered
by the Occupational Safety and Health Act
(OSH Act) are covered by these Part 1904 regulations. However, most employers do not
have to keep OSHA injury and illness records
unless OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) informs them in writing that they
must keep records. For example, employers
with 10 or fewer employees and business establishments in certain industry classifications are partially exempt from keeping
OSHA injury and illness records.

Subpart D—Other OSHA Injury and Illness
Recordkeeping Requirements
1904.30 Multiple business establishments.
1904.31 Covered employees.
1904.32 Annual summary.
1904.33 Retention and updating.
1904.34 Change in business ownership.
1904.35 Employee involvement.
1904.36 Prohibition against discrimination.
1904.37 State recordkeeping regulations.
1904.38 Variances from the recordkeeping
rule.

§ 1904.1 Partial exemption for employers with 10 or fewer employees.
(a) Basic requirement. (1) If your company had ten (10) or fewer employees at
all times during the last calendar year,
you do not need to keep OSHA injury
and illness records unless OSHA or the
BLS informs you in writing that you
must keep records under § 1904.41 or
§ 1904.42. However, as required by
§ 1904.39, all employers covered by the
OSH Act must report to OSHA any
workplace incident that results in a fatality or the hospitalization of three or
more employees.

Subpart E—Reporting Fatality, Injury and
Illness Information to the Government
1904.39 Reporting fatalities and multiple
hospitalization incidents to OSHA.
1904.40 Providing records to government
representatives.
1904.41 Annual OSHA Injury and Illness Survey of Ten or More Employers.
1904.42 Requests from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics for data.

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§ 1904.2

29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)

(2) If your company had more than
ten (10) employees at any time during
the last calendar year, you must keep
OSHA injury and illness records unless
your establishment is classified as a
partially
exempt
industry
under
§ 1904.2.
(b) Implementation. (1) Is the partial exemption for size based on the size of my
entire company or on the size of an individual business establishment? The partial exemption for size is based on the
number of employees in the entire
company.
(2) How do I determine the size of my
company to find out if I qualify for the
partial exemption for size? To determine
if you are exempt because of size, you
need to determine your company’s
peak employment during the last calendar year. If you had no more than 10
employees at any time in the last calendar year, your company qualifies for
the partial exemption for size.

for the partial industry classification
exemption.
(2) Is the partial industry classification
exemption based on the industry classification of my entire company or on the
classification of individual business establishments operated by my company? The
partial industry classification exemption applies to individual business establishments. If a company has several
business establishments engaged in different classes of business activities,
some of the company’s establishments
may be required to keep records, while
others may be exempt.
(3) How do I determine the Standard Industrial Classification code for my company or for individual establishments?
You determine your Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code by using
the Standard Industrial Classification
Manual, Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget. You may contact your nearest
OSHA office or State agency for help in
determining your SIC.

§ 1904.2 Partial exemption for establishments in certain industries.

§ 1904.3 Keeping records for more than
one agency.

(a) Basic requirement. (1) If your business establishment is classified in a
specific low hazard retail, service, finance, insurance or real estate industry listed in Appendix A to this Subpart B, you do not need to keep OSHA
injury and illness records unless the
government asks you to keep the
records under § 1904.41 or § 1904.42. However, all employers must report to
OSHA any workplace incident that results in a fatality or the hospitalization of three or more employees (see
§ 1904.39).
(2) If one or more of your company’s
establishments are classified in a nonexempt industry, you must keep OSHA
injury and illness records for all of
such establishments unless your company is partially exempted because of
size under § 1904.1.
(b) Implementation. (1) Does the partial
industry classification exemption apply
only to business establishments in the retail, services, finance, insurance or real
estate industries (SICs 52–89)? Yes, business establishments classified in agriculture; mining; construction; manufacturing; transportation; communication, electric, gas and sanitary services; or wholesale trade are not eligible

If you create records to comply with
another government agency’s injury
and illness recordkeeping requirements, OSHA will consider those
records as meeting OSHA’s Part 1904
recordkeeping requirements if OSHA
accepts the other agency’s records
under a memorandum of understanding
with that agency, or if the other agency’s records contain the same information as this Part 1904 requires you to
record. You may contact your nearest
OSHA office or State agency for help in
determining whether your records
meet OSHA’s requirements.
NON-MANDATORY APPENDIX A TO SUBPART B OF PART 1904—PARTIALLY
EXEMPT INDUSTRIES
Employers are not required to keep OSHA
injury and illness records for any establishment classified in the following Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, unless
they are asked in writing to do so by OSHA,
the Bureau of Labor Statistics ( BLS), or a
state agency operating under the authority
of OSHA or the BLS. All employers, including those partially exempted by reason of
company size or industry classification,
must report to OSHA any workplace incident

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Occupational Safety and Health Admin., Labor

§ 1904.4

that results in a fatality or the hospitalization of three or more employees (see
§ 1904.39).
SIC code

Industry description

SIC code

Industry description

525 ............
542 ............
544 ............
545 ............
546 ............
549 ............
551 ............
552 ............
554 ............
557 ............
56 ..............
573 ............
58 ..............
591 ............
592 ............
594 ............
599 ............
60 ..............

725 ...........
726 ...........
729 ...........
731 ...........
732 ...........
733 ...........
737 ...........
738 ...........
764 ...........
78 .............
791 ...........
792 ...........
793 ...........
801 ...........
802 ...........
803 ...........
804 ...........
807 ...........

Shoe Repair and Shoeshine Parlors.
Funeral Service and Crematories.
Miscellaneous Personal Services.
Advertising Services.
Credit Reporting and Collection Services.
Mailing, Reproduction, & Stenographic Services.
Computer and Data Processing Services.
Miscellaneous Business Services.
Reupholstery and Furniture Repair.
Motion Picture.
Dance Studios, Schools, and Halls.
Producers, Orchestras, Entertainers.
Bowling Centers.
Offices & Clinics Of Medical Doctors.
Offices and Clinics Of Dentists.
Offices Of Osteopathic.
Offices Of Other Health Practitioners.
Medical and Dental Laboratories.

61 ..............

Hardware Stores
Meat and Fish Markets
Candy, Nut, and Confectionery Stores
Dairy Products Stores
Retail Bakeries
Miscellaneous Food Stores
New and Used Car Dealers
Used Car Dealers
Gasoline Service Stations
Motorcycle Dealers
Apparel and Accessory Stores
Radio, Television, & Computer Stores
Eating and Drinking Places
Drug Stores and Proprietary Stores
Liquor Stores
Miscellaneous Shopping Goods Stores
Retail Stores, Not Elsewhere Classified
Depository Institutions (banks & savings institutions)
Nondepository

809 ...........

62 ..............
63 ..............

Security and Commodity Brokers
Insurance Carriers

81 .............
82 .............

64 ..............
653 ............
654 ............
67 ..............
722 ............
723 ............

Insurance Agents, Brokers & Services
Real Estate Agents and Managers
Title Abstract Offices
Holding and Other Investment Offices
Photographic Studios, Portrait
Beauty Shops

832 ...........
835 ...........
839 ...........
841 ...........
86 .............
87 .............

724 ............

Barber Shops

899 ...........

Health and Allied Services, Not Elsewhere Classified.
Legal Services.
Educational Services (schools, colleges, universities and libraries).
Individual and Family Services.
Child Day Care Services.
Social Services, Not Elsewhere Classified.
Museums and Art Galleries.
Membership Organizations.
Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management, and Related Services.
Services, not elsewhere classified.

(b) Implementation. (1) What sections of
this rule describe recording criteria for recording work-related injuries and illnesses? The table below indicates which
sections of the rule address each topic.
(i) Determination of work-relatedness. See § 1904.5.
(ii) Determination of a new case. See
§ 1904.6.
(iii) General recording criteria. See
§ 1904.7.
(iv) Additional criteria. (Needlestick
and sharps injury cases, tuberculosis
cases, hearing loss cases, medical removal cases, and musculoskeletal disorder cases). See § 1904.8 through
§ 1904.12.
(2) How do I decide whether a particular injury or illness is recordable? The
decision tree for recording work-related injuries and illnesses below shows
the steps involved in making this determination.

Subpart C—Recordkeeping Forms
and Recording Criteria
NOTE TO SUBPART C: This Subpart describes
the work-related injuries and illnesses that
an employer must enter into the OSHA
records and explains the OSHA forms that
employers must use to record work-related
fatalities, injuries, and illnesses.

§ 1904.4

Recording criteria.

(a) Basic requirement. Each employer
required by this Part to keep records of
fatalities, injuries, and illnesses must
record each fatality, injury and illness
that:
(1) Is work-related; and
(2) Is a new case; and
(3) Meets one or more of the general
recording criteria of § 1904.7 or the application to specific cases of § 1904.8
through § 1904.12.

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§ 1904.5

29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)

the work environment as ‘‘the establishment and other locations where one
or more employees are working or are
present as a condition of their employment. The work environment includes
not only physical locations, but also
the equipment or materials used by the
employee during the course of his or
her work.’’
(2) Are there situations where an injury
or illness occurs in the work environment
and is not considered work-related? Yes,
an injury or illness occurring in the
work environment that falls under one
of the following exceptions is not workrelated, and therefore is not recordable.

§ 1904.5 Determination of work-relatedness.
(a) Basic requirement. You must consider an injury or illness to be work-related if an event or exposure in the
work environment either caused or
contributed to the resulting condition
or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness. Work-relatedness
is presumed for injuries and illnesses
resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment, unless an exception in § 1904.5(b)(2) specifically applies.
(b) Implementation. (1) What is the
‘‘work environment’’? OSHA defines

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Occupational Safety and Health Admin., Labor

§ 1904.5

1904.5(b)(2)

You are not required to record injuries and illnesses if . . .

(i) .................

At the time of the injury or illness, the employee was present in the work environment as a member of the general public rather than as an employee.
The injury or illness involves signs or symptoms that surface at work but result solely from a non-work-related
event or exposure that occurs outside the work environment.
The injury or illness results solely from voluntary participation in a wellness program or in a medical, fitness, or
recreational activity such as blood donation, physical examination, flu shot, exercise class, racquetball, or
baseball.
The injury or illness is solely the result of an employee eating, drinking, or preparing food or drink for personal
consumption (whether bought on the employer’s premises or brought in). For example, if the employee is injured by choking on a sandwich while in the employer’s establishment, the case would not be considered
work-related.
Note: If the employee is made ill by ingesting food contaminated by workplace contaminants (such as lead), or
gets food poisoning from food supplied by the employer, the case would be considered work-related.
The injury or illness is solely the result of an employee doing personal tasks (unrelated to their employment) at
the establishment outside of the employee’s assigned working hours.
The injury or illness is solely the result of personal grooming, self medication for a non-work-related condition, or
is intentionally self-inflicted.
The injury or illness is caused by a motor vehicle accident and occurs on a company parking lot or company access road while the employee is commuting to or from work.
The illness is the common cold or flu (Note: contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, hepatitis A, or
plague are considered work-related if the employee is infected at work).
The illness is a mental illness. Mental illness will not be considered work-related unless the employee voluntarily
provides the employer with an opinion from a physician or other licensed health care professional with appropriate training and experience (psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, etc.) stating that the
employee has a mental illness that is work-related.

(ii) ................
(iii) ................

(iv) ...............

(v) ................
(vi) ...............
(vii) ...............
(viii) ..............
(ix) ...............

(3) How do I handle a case if it is not
obvious whether the precipitating event or
exposure occurred in the work environment or occurred away from work? In
these situations, you must evaluate
the employee’s work duties and environment to decide whether or not one
or more events or exposures in the
work environment either caused or
contributed to the resulting condition
or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.
(4) How do I know if an event or exposure in the work environment ‘‘significantly aggravated’’ a preexisting injury or
illness? A preexisting injury or illness
has been significantly aggravated, for
purposes of OSHA injury and illness
recordkeeping, when an event or exposure in the work environment results
in any of the following:
(i) Death, provided that the preexisting injury or illness would likely
not have resulted in death but for the
occupational event or exposure.
(ii) Loss of consciousness, provided
that the preexisting injury or illness
would likely not have resulted in loss
of consciousness but for the occupational event or exposure.
(iii) One or more days away from
work, or days of restricted work, or
days of job transfer that otherwise
would not have occurred but for the occupational event or exposure.

(iv) Medical treatment in a case
where no medical treatment was needed for the injury or illness before the
workplace event or exposure, or a
change in medical treatment was necessitated by the workplace event or
exposure.
(5) Which injuries and illnesses are considered pre-existing conditions? An injury
or illness is a preexisting condition if it
resulted solely from a non-work-related event or exposure that occured
outside the work environment.
(6) How do I decide whether an injury
or illness is work-related if the employee is
on travel status at the time the injury or
illness occurs? Injuries and illnesses
that occur while an employee is on
travel status are work-related if, at the
time of the injury or illness, the employee was engaged in work activities
‘‘in the interest of the employer.’’ Examples of such activities include travel
to and from customer contacts, conducting job tasks, and entertaining or
being entertained to transact, discuss,
or promote business (work-related entertainment includes only entertainment activities being engaged in at the
direction of the employer).
Injuries or illnesses that occur when
the employee is on travel status do not
have to be recorded if they meet one of
the exceptions listed below.

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§ 1904.6

29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)

1904.5 (b)(6)

If the employee has . . .

You may use the following to determine if an injury or illness is
work-related

(i) ..................

checked into a hotel or motel for one or
more days.

(ii) .................

taken a detour for personal reasons .............

When a traveling employee checks into a hotel, motel, or into a
other temporary residence, he or she establishes a ‘‘home
away from home.’’ You must evaluate the employee’s activities
after he or she checks into the hotel, motel, or other temporary
residence for their work-relatedness in the same manner as
you evaluate the activities of a non-traveling employee. When
the employee checks into the temporary residence, he or she
is considered to have left the work environment. When the employee begins work each day, he or she re-enters the work environment. If the employee has established a ‘‘home away
from home’’ and is reporting to a fixed worksite each day, you
also do not consider injuries or illnesses work-related if they
occur while the employee is commuting between the temporary
residence and the job location.
Injuries or illnesses are not considered work-related if they occur
while the employee is on a personal detour from a reasonably
direct route of travel (e.g., has taken a side trip for personal
reasons).

(7) How do I decide if a case is work-related when the employee is working at
home? Injuries and illnesses that occur
while an employee is working at home,
including work in a home office, will be
considered work-related if the injury or
illness occurs while the employee is
performing work for pay or compensation in the home, and the injury or illness is directly related to the performance of work rather than to the general
home environment or setting. For example, if an employee drops a box of
work documents and injures his or her
foot, the case is considered work-related. If an employee’s fingernail is
punctured by a needle from a sewing
machine used to perform garment work
at home, becomes infected and requires
medical treatment, the injury is considered work-related. If an employee is
injured because he or she trips on the
family dog while rushing to answer a
work phone call, the case is not considered work-related. If an employee
working at home is electrocuted because of faulty home wiring, the injury
is not considered work-related.
§ 1904.6

of the body but had recovered completely (all signs and symptoms had
disappeared) from the previous injury
or illness and an event or exposure in
the work environment caused the signs
or symptoms to reappear.
(b) Implementation. (1) When an employee experiences the signs or symptoms
of a chronic work-related illness, do I
need to consider each recurrence of signs
or symptoms to be a new case? No, for occupational illnesses where the signs or
symptoms may recur or continue in
the absence of an exposure in the workplace, the case must only be recorded
once. Examples may include occupational cancer, asbestosis, byssinosis
and silicosis.
(2) When an employee experiences the
signs or symptoms of an injury or illness
as a result of an event or exposure in the
workplace, such as an episode of occupational asthma, must I treat the episode as
a new case? Yes, because the episode or
recurrence was caused by an event or
exposure in the workplace, the incident
must be treated as a new case.
(3) May I rely on a physician or other
licensed health care professional to determine whether a case is a new case or a recurrence of an old case? You are not required to seek the advice of a physician
or other licensed health care professional. However, if you do seek such
advice, you must follow the physician
or other licensed health care professional’s recommendation about whether the case is a new case or a recurrence. If you receive recommendations
from two or more physicians or other

Determination of new cases.

(a) Basic requirement. You must consider an injury or illness to be a ‘‘new
case’’ if:
(1) The employee has not previously
experienced a recorded injury or illness
of the same type that affects the same
part of the body, or
(2) The employee previously experienced a recorded injury or illness of the
same type that affected the same part

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Occupational Safety and Health Admin., Labor

§ 1904.7

volving days away and an entry of the
number of calendar days away from
work in the number of days column. If
the employee is out for an extended period of time, you must enter an estimate of the days that the employee
will be away, and update the day count
when the actual number of days is
known.
(i) Do I count the day on which the injury occurred or the illness began? No,
you begin counting days away on the
day after the injury occurred or the illness began.
(ii) How do I record an injury or illness
when a physician or other licensed health
care professional recommends that the
worker stay at home but the employee
comes to work anyway? You must record
these injuries and illnesses on the
OSHA 300 Log using the check box for
cases with days away from work and
enter the number of calendar days
away recommended by the physician or
other licensed health care professional.
If a physician or other licensed health
care professional recommends days
away, you should encourage your employee to follow that recommendation.
However, the days away must be recorded whether the injured or ill employee follows the physician or licensed health care professional’s recommendation or not. If you receive
recommendations from two or more
physicians or other licensed health
care professionals, you may make a decision as to which recommendation is
the most authoritative, and record the
case based upon that recommendation.
(iii) How do I handle a case when a
physician or other licensed health care
professional recommends that the worker
return to work but the employee stays at
home anyway? In this situation, you
must end the count of days away from
work on the date the physician or
other licensed health care professional
recommends that the employee return
to work.
(iv) How do I count weekends, holidays,
or other days the employee would not
have worked anyway? You must count
the number of calendar days the employee was unable to work as a result
of the injury or illness, regardless of
whether or not the employee was
scheduled to work on those day(s).
Weekend days, holidays, vacation days

licensed health care professionals, you
must make a decision as to which recommendation is the most authoritative
(best documented, best reasoned, or
most authoritative), and record the
case based upon that recommendation.
§ 1904.7 General recording criteria.
(a) Basic requirement. You must consider an injury or illness to meet the
general recording criteria, and therefore to be recordable, if it results in
any of the following: death, days away
from work, restricted work or transfer
to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness.
You must also consider a case to meet
the general recording criteria if it involves a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional, even if
it does not result in death, days away
from work, restricted work or job
transfer, medical treatment beyond
first aid, or loss of consciousness.
(b) Implementation. (1) How do I decide
if a case meets one or more of the general
recording criteria? A work-related injury
or illness must be recorded if it results
in one or more of the following:
(i) Death. See § 1904.7(b)(2).
(ii) Days away from work. See
§ 1904.7(b)(3).
(iii) Restricted work or transfer to
another job. See § 1904.7(b)(4).
(iv) Medical treatment beyond first
aid. See § 1904.7(b)(5).
(v) Loss of consciousness. See
§ 1904.7(b)(6).
(vi) A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional. See
§ 1904.7(b)(7).
(2) How do I record a work-related injury or illness that results in the employee’s death? You must record an injury
or illness that results in death by entering a check mark on the OSHA 300
Log in the space for cases resulting in
death. You must also report any workrelated fatality to OSHA within eight
(8) hours, as required by § 1904.39.
(3) How do I record a work-related injury or illness that results in days away
from work? When an injury or illness involves one or more days away from
work, you must record the injury or
illness on the OSHA 300 Log with a
check mark in the space for cases in-

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§ 1904.7

29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)

or other days off are included in the
total number of days recorded if the
employee would not have been able to
work on those days because of a workrelated injury or illness.
(v) How do I record a case in which a
worker is injured or becomes ill on a Friday and reports to work on a Monday,
and was not scheduled to work on the
weekend? You need to record this case
only if you receive information from a
physician or other licensed health care
professional indicating that the employee should not have worked, or
should have performed only restricted
work, during the weekend. If so, you
must record the injury or illness as a
case with days away from work or restricted work, and enter the day
counts, as appropriate.
(vi) How do I record a case in which a
worker is injured or becomes ill on the day
before scheduled time off such as a holiday, a planned vacation, or a temporary
plant closing? You need to record a case
of this type only if you receive information from a physician or other licensed health care professional indicating that the employee should not
have worked, or should have performed
only restricted work, during the scheduled time off. If so, you must record
the injury or illness as a case with days
away from work or restricted work,
and enter the day counts, as appropriate.
(vii) Is there a limit to the number of
days away from work I must count? Yes,
you may ‘‘cap’’ the total days away at
180 calendar days. You are not required
to keep track of the number of calendar days away from work if the injury or illness resulted in more than
180 calendar days away from work and/
or days of job transfer or restriction. In
such a case, entering 180 in the total
days away column will be considered
adequate.
(viii) May I stop counting days if an
employee who is away from work because
of an injury or illness retires or leaves my
company? Yes, if the employee leaves
your company for some reason unrelated to the injury or illness, such as
retirement, a plant closing, or to take
another job, you may stop counting
days away from work or days of restriction/job transfer. If the employee
leaves your company because of the in-

jury or illness, you must estimate the
total number of days away or days of
restriction/job transfer and enter the
day count on the 300 Log.
(ix) If a case occurs in one year but results in days away during the next calendar year, do I record the case in both
years? No, you only record the injury or
illness once. You must enter the number of calendar days away for the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log for
the year in which the injury or illness
occurred. If the employee is still away
from work because of the injury or illness when you prepare the annual summary, estimate the total number of
calendar days you expect the employee
to be away from work, use this number
to calculate the total for the annual
summary, and then update the initial
log entry later when the day count is
known or reaches the 180-day cap.
(4) How do I record a work-related injury or illness that results in restricted
work or job transfer? When an injury or
illness involves restricted work or job
transfer but does not involve death or
days away from work, you must record
the injury or illness on the OSHA 300
Log by placing a check mark in the
space for job transfer or restriction and
an entry of the number of restricted or
transferred days in the restricted
workdays column.
(i) How do I decide if the injury or illness resulted in restricted work? Restricted work occurs when, as the result of a work-related injury or illness:
(A) You keep the employee from performing one or more of the routine
functions of his or her job, or from
working the full workday that he or
she would otherwise have been scheduled to work; or
(B) A physician or other licensed
health care professional recommends
that the employee not perform one or
more of the routine functions of his or
her job, or not work the full workday
that he or she would otherwise have
been scheduled to work.
(ii) What is meant by ‘‘routine functions’’? For recordkeeping purposes, an
employee’s routine functions are those
work activities the employee regularly
performs at least once per week.
(iii) Do I have to record restricted work
or job transfer if it applies only to the day

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on which the injury occurred or the illness began? No, you do not have to
record restricted work or job transfers
if you, or the physician or other licensed health care professional, impose
the restriction or transfer only for the
day on which the injury occurred or
the illness began.
(iv) If you or a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends a work restriction, is the injury
or illness automatically recordable as a
‘‘restricted work’’ case? No, a recommended work restriction is recordable only if it affects one or more of
the employee’s routine job functions.
To determine whether this is the case,
you must evaluate the restriction in
light of the routine functions of the injured or ill employee’s job. If the restriction from you or the physician or
other licensed health care professional
keeps the employee from performing
one or more of his or her routine job
functions, or from working the full
workday the injured or ill employee
would otherwise have worked, the employee’s work has been restricted and
you must record the case.
(v) How do I record a case where the
worker works only for a partial work shift
because of a work-related injury or illness? A partial day of work is recorded
as a day of job transfer or restriction
for recordkeeping purposes, except for
the day on which the injury occurred
or the illness began.
(vi) If the injured or ill worker produces
fewer goods or services than he or she
would have produced prior to the injury
or illness but otherwise performs all of the
routine functions of his or her work, is
the case considered a restricted work case?
No, the case is considered restricted
work only if the worker does not perform all of the routine functions of his
or her job or does not work the full
shift that he or she would otherwise
have worked.
(vii) How do I handle vague restrictions
from a physician or other licensed health
care professional, such as that the employee engage only in ‘‘light duty’’ or
‘‘take it easy for a week’’? If you are not
clear about the physician or other licensed health care professional’s recommendation, you may ask that person whether the employee can do all of
his or her routine job functions and

§ 1904.7

work all of his or her normally assigned work shift. If the answer to both
of these questions is ‘‘Yes,’’ then the
case does not involve a work restriction and does not have to be recorded
as such. If the answer to one or both of
these questions is ‘‘No,’’ the case involves restricted work and must be recorded as a restricted work case. If you
are unable to obtain this additional information from the physician or other
licensed health care professional who
recommended the restriction, record
the injury or illness as a case involving
restricted work.
(viii) What do I do if a physician or
other licensed health care professional
recommends a job restriction meeting
OSHA’s definition, but the employee does
all of his or her routine job functions anyway? You must record the injury or illness on the OSHA 300 Log as a restricted work case. If a physician or
other licensed health care professional
recommends a job restriction, you
should ensure that the employee complies with that restriction. If you receive recommendations from two or
more physicians or other licensed
health care professionals, you may
make a decision as to which recommendation is the most authoritative, and record the case based upon
that recommendation.
(ix) How do I decide if an injury or illness involved a transfer to another job? If
you assign an injured or ill employee
to a job other than his or her regular
job for part of the day, the case involves transfer to another job. Note:
This does not include the day on which
the injury or illness occurred.
(x) Are transfers to another job recorded
in the same way as restricted work cases?
Yes, both job transfer and restricted
work cases are recorded in the same
box on the OSHA 300 Log. For example,
if you assign, or a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends that you assign, an injured
or ill worker to his or her routine job
duties for part of the day and to another job for the rest of the day, the injury or illness involves a job transfer.
You must record an injury or illness
that involves a job transfer by placing
a check in the box for job transfer.
(xi) How do I count days of job transfer
or restriction? You count days of job

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29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)

transfer or restriction in the same way
you count days away from work, using
§ 1904.7(b)(3)(i) to (viii), above. The only
difference is that, if you permanently
assign the injured or ill employee to a
job that has been modified or permanently changed in a manner that eliminates the routine functions the employee was restricted from performing,
you may stop the day count when the
modification or change is made permanent. You must count at least one day
of restricted work or job transfer for
such cases.
(5) How do I record an injury or illness
that involves medical treatment beyond
first aid? If a work-related injury or illness results in medical treatment beyond first aid, you must record it on
the OSHA 300 Log. If the injury or illness did not involve death, one or more
days away from work, one or more
days of restricted work, or one or more
days of job transfer, you enter a check
mark in the box for cases where the
employee received medical treatment
but remained at work and was not
transferred or restricted.
(i) What is the definition of medical
treatment? ‘‘Medical treatment’’ means
the management and care of a patient
to combat disease or disorder. For the
purposes of Part 1904, medical treatment does not include:
(A) Visits to a physician or other licensed health care professional solely
for observation or counseling;
(B) The conduct of diagnostic procedures, such as x-rays and blood tests,
including the administration of prescription medications used solely for
diagnostic purposes (e.g., eye drops to
dilate pupils); or
(C) ‘‘First aid’’ as defined in paragraph (b)(5)(ii) of this section.
(ii) What is ‘‘first aid’’? For the purposes of Part 1904, ‘‘first aid’’ means
the following:
(A) Using a non-prescription medication at nonprescription strength (for
medications available in both prescription and non-prescription form, a recommendation by a physician or other
licensed health care professional to use
a non-prescription medication at prescription strength is considered medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes);

(B) Administering tetanus immunizations (other immunizations, such as
Hepatitis B vaccine or rabies vaccine,
are considered medical treatment);
(C) Cleaning, flushing or soaking
wounds on the surface of the skin;
(D) Using wound coverings such as
bandages, Band-AidsTM, gauze pads,
etc.; or using butterfly bandages or
Steri-StripsTM (other wound closing devices such as sutures, staples, etc., are
considered medical treatment);
(E) Using hot or cold therapy;
(F) Using any non-rigid means of support, such as elastic bandages, wraps,
non-rigid back belts, etc. (devices with
rigid stays or other systems designed
to immobilize parts of the body are
considered medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes);
(G) Using temporary immobilization
devices while transporting an accident
victim (e.g., splints, slings, neck collars, back boards, etc.).
(H) Drilling of a fingernail or toenail
to relieve pressure, or draining fluid
from a blister;
(I) Using eye patches;
(J) Removing foreign bodies from the
eye using only irrigation or a cotton
swab;
(K) Removing splinters or foreign
material from areas other than the eye
by irrigation, tweezers, cotton swabs or
other simple means;
(L) Using finger guards;
(M) Using massages (physical therapy
or chiropractic treatment are considered medical treatment for recordkeeping purposes); or
(N) Drinking fluids for relief of heat
stress.
(iii) Are any other procedures included
in first aid? No, this is a complete list of
all treatments considered first aid for
Part 1904 purposes.
(iv) Does the professional status of the
person providing the treatment have any
effect on what is considered first aid or
medical treatment? No, OSHA considers
the treatments listed in § 1904.7(b)(5)(ii)
of this Part to be first aid regardless of
the professional status of the person
providing the treatment. Even when
these treatments are provided by a
physician or other licensed health care
professional, they are considered first

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§ 1904.8

restrictions are not recommended, or are
postponed, in a particular case.

aid for the purposes of Part 1904. Similarly, OSHA considers treatment beyond first aid to be medical treatment
even when it is provided by someone
other than a physician or other licensed health care professional.
(v) What if a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends medical treatment but the employee does not follow the recommendation? If a physician or other licensed
health care professional recommends
medical treatment, you should encourage the injured or ill employee to follow that recommendation. However,
you must record the case even if the injured or ill employee does not follow
the physician or other licensed health
care professional’s recommendation.
(6) Is every work-related injury or illness case involving a loss of consciousness
recordable? Yes, you must record a
work-related injury or illness if the
worker becomes unconscious, regardless of the length of time the employee
remains unconscious.
(7) What is a ‘‘significant’’ diagnosed
injury or illness that is recordable under
the general criteria even if it does not result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical
treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness? Work-related cases involving cancer, chronic irreversible disease,
a fractured or cracked bone, or a punctured eardrum must always be recorded
under the general criteria at the time
of diagnosis by a physician or other licensed health care professional.

§ 1904.8 Recording
criteria
for
needlestick and sharps injuries.
(a) Basic requirement. You must
record all work-related needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that
are contaminated with another person’s blood or other potentially infectious material (as defined by 29 CFR
1910.1030). You must enter the case on
the OSHA 300 Log as an injury. To protect the employee’s privacy, you may
not enter the employee’s name on the
OSHA 300 Log (see the requirements for
privacy cases in paragraphs 1904.29(b)(6)
through 1904.29(b)(9)).
(b) Implementation. (1) What does
‘‘other potentially infectious material’’
mean? The term ‘‘other potentially infectious materials’’ is defined in the
OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens standard
at § 1910.1030(b). These materials include:
(i) Human bodily fluids, tissues and
organs, and
(ii) Other materials infected with the
HIV or hepatitis B (HBV) virus such as
laboratory cultures or tissues from experimental animals.
(2) Does this mean that I must record all
cuts, lacerations, punctures, and scratches? No, you need to record cuts, lacerations, punctures, and scratches only if
they are work-related and involve contamination with another person’s blood
or other potentially infectious material. If the cut, laceration, or scratch
involves a clean object, or a contaminant other than blood or other potentially infectious material, you need to
record the case only if it meets one or
more of the recording criteria in
§ 1904.7.
(3) If I record an injury and the employee is later diagnosed with an infectious bloodborne disease, do I need to update the OSHA 300 Log? Yes, you must
update the classification of the case on
the OSHA 300 Log if the case results in
death, days away from work, restricted
work, or job transfer. You must also
update the description to identify the
infectious disease and change the classification of the case from an injury to
an illness.

NOTE TO § 1904.7: OSHA believes that most
significant injuries and illnesses will result
in one of the criteria listed in § 1904.7(a):
death, days away from work, restricted work
or job transfer, medical treatment beyond
first aid, or loss of consciousness. However,
there are some significant injuries, such as a
punctured eardrum or a fractured toe or rib,
for which neither medical treatment nor
work restrictions may be recommended. In
addition, there are some significant progressive diseases, such as byssinosis, silicosis,
and some types of cancer, for which medical
treatment or work restrictions may not be
recommended at the time of diagnosis but
are likely to be recommended as the disease
progresses. OSHA believes that cancer,
chronic irreversible diseases, fractured or
cracked bones, and punctured eardrums are
generally considered significant injuries and
illnesses, and must be recorded at the initial
diagnosis even if medical treatment or work

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§ 1904.9

29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)

(4) What if one of my employees is
splashed or exposed to blood or other potentially infectious material without being
cut or scratched? Do I need to record this
incident? You need to record such an incident on the OSHA 300 Log as an illness if:
(i) It results in the diagnosis of a
bloodborne illness, such as HIV, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C; or
(ii) It meets one or more of the recording criteria in § 1904.7.

that the employee has experienced a
work-related Standard Threshold Shift
(STS) in hearing in one or both ears,
and the employee’s total hearing level
is 25 decibels (dB) or more above
audiometric zero (averaged at 2000,
3000, and 4000 Hz) in the same ear(s) as
the STS, you must record the case on
the OSHA 300 Log.
(b) Implementation.
(1) What is a Standard Threshold Shift?
A Standard Threshold Shift, or STS, is
defined in the occupational noise exposure standard at 29 CFR 1910.95(g)(10)(i)
as a change in hearing threshold, relative to the baseline audiogram for
that employee, of an average of 10 decibels (dB) or more at 2000, 3000, and 4000
hertz (Hz) in one or both ears.
(2) How do I evaluate the current
audiogram to determine whether an employee has an STS and a 25–dB hearing
level?
(i) STS. If the employee has never
previously experienced a recordable
hearing loss, you must compare the
employee’s current audiogram with
that employee’s baseline audiogram. If
the employee has previously experienced a recordable hearing loss, you
must compare the employee’s current
audiogram with the employee’s revised
baseline audiogram (the audiogram reflecting the employee’s previous recordable hearing loss case).
(ii) 25–dB loss. Audiometric test results reflect the employee’s overall
hearing ability in comparison to
audiometric zero. Therefore, using the
employee’s current audiogram, you
must use the average hearing level at
2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz to determine
whether or not the employee’s total
hearing level is 25 dB or more.
(3) May I adjust the current audiogram
to reflect the effects of aging on hearing?
Yes. When you are determining
whether an STS has occurred, you may
age adjust the employee’s current
audiogram results by using Tables F–1
or F–2, as appropriate, in Appendix F of
29 CFR 1910.95. You may not use an age
adjustment when determining whether
the employee’s total hearing level is 25
dB or more above audiometric zero.
(4) Do I have to record the hearing loss
if I am going to retest the employee’s
hearing?

§ 1904.9 Recording criteria for cases
involving medical removal under
OSHA standards.
(a) Basic requirement. If an employee
is medically removed under the medical surveillance requirements of an
OSHA standard, you must record the
case on the OSHA 300 Log.
(b) Implementation. (1) How do I classify medical removal cases on the OSHA
300 Log? You must enter each medical
removal case on the OSHA 300 Log as
either a case involving days away from
work or a case involving restricted
work activity, depending on how you
decide to comply with the medical removal requirement. If the medical removal is the result of a chemical exposure, you must enter the case on the
OSHA 300 Log by checking the ‘‘poisoning’’ column.
(2) Do all of OSHA’s standards have
medical removal provisions? No, some
OSHA standards, such as the standards
covering bloodborne pathogens and
noise, do not have medical removal
provisions. Many OSHA standards that
cover specific chemical substances
have medical removal provisions.
These standards include, but are not
limited to, lead, cadmium, methylene
chloride, formaldehyde, and benzene.
(3) Do I have to record a case where I
voluntarily removed the employee from exposure before the medical removal criteria
in an OSHA standard are met? No, if the
case involves voluntary medical removal before the medical removal levels required by an OSHA standard, you
do not need to record the case on the
OSHA 300 Log.
§ 1904.10 Recording criteria for cases
involving occupational hearing loss.
(a) Basic requirement. If an employee’s hearing test (audiogram) reveals

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§ 1904.29

on the OSHA 300 Log by checking the
‘‘respiratory condition’’ column.
(b) Implementation. (1) Do I have to
record, on the Log, a positive TB skin test
result obtained at a pre-employment physical? No, you do not have to record it
because the employee was not occupationally exposed to a known case of active tuberculosis in your workplace.
(2) May I line-out or erase a recorded
TB case if I obtain evidence that the case
was not caused by occupational exposure?
Yes, you may line-out or erase the case
from the Log under the following circumstances:
(i) The worker is living in a household with a person who has been diagnosed with active TB;
(ii) The Public Health Department
has identified the worker as a contact
of an individual with a case of active
TB unrelated to the workplace; or
(iii) A medical investigation shows
that the employee’s infection was
caused by exposure to TB away from
work, or proves that the case was not
related to the workplace TB exposure.

No, if you retest the employee’s hearing within 30 days of the first test, and
the retest does not confirm the recordable STS, you are not required to
record the hearing loss case on the
OSHA 300 Log. If the retest confirms
the recordable STS, you must record
the hearing loss illness within seven (7)
calendar days of the retest. If subsequent audiometric testing performed
under the testing requirements of the
§ 1910.95 noise standard indicates that
an STS is not persistent, you may
erase or line-out the recorded entry.
(5) Are there any special rules for determining whether a hearing loss case is
work-related?
No. You must use the rules in § 1904.5
to determine if the hearing loss is
work-related. If an event or exposure in
the work environment either caused or
contributed to the hearing loss, or significantly aggravated a pre-existing
hearing loss, you must consider the
case to be work related.
(6) If a physician or other licensed
health care professional determines the
hearing loss is not work-related, do I still
need to record the case?
If a physician or other licensed
health care professional determines
that the hearing loss is not work-related or has not been significantly aggravated by occupational noise exposure, you are not required to consider
the case work-related or to record the
case on the OSHA 300 Log.
(7) How do I complete the 300 Log for a
hearing loss case? When you enter a recordable hearing loss case on the OSHA
300 Log, you must check the 300 Log
column for hearing loss.

§§ 1904.13–1904.28
§ 1904.29

[Reserved]

Forms.

(a) Basic requirement. You must use
OSHA 300, 300–A, and 301 forms, or
equivalent forms, for recordable injuries and illnesses. The OSHA 300 form
is called the Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, the 300–A is the
Summary of Work-Related Injuries and
Illnesses, and the OSHA 301 form is
called the Injury and Illness Incident
Report.
(b) Implementation. (1) What do I need
to do to complete the OSHA 300 Log? You
must enter information about your
business at the top of the OSHA 300
Log, enter a one or two line description
for each recordable injury or illness,
and summarize this information on the
OSHA 300–A at the end of the year.
(2) What do I need to do to complete the
OSHA 301 Incident Report? You must
complete an OSHA 301 Incident Report
form, or an equivalent form, for each
recordable injury or illness entered on
the OSHA 300 Log.
(3) How quickly must each injury or illness be recorded? You must enter each
recordable injury or illness on the
OSHA 300 Log and 301 Incident Report

(NOTE: § 1904.10(b)(7) is effective beginning
January 1, 2004.)
[67 FR 44047, July 1, 2002, as amended at 67
FR 77170, Dec. 17, 2002]

§ 1904.11 Recording criteria for workrelated tuberculosis cases.
(a) Basic requirement. If any of your
employees has been occupationally exposed to anyone with a known case of
active tuberculosis (TB), and that employee subsequently develops a tuberculosis infection, as evidenced by a
positive skin test or diagnosis by a
physician or other licensed health care
professional, you must record the case

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§ 1904.29

29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)
cases? No, this is a complete list of all
injuries and illnesses considered privacy concern cases for Part 1904 purposes.
(9) If I have removed the employee’s
name, but still believe that the employee
may be identified from the information on
the forms, is there anything else that I
can do to further protect the employee’s
privacy? Yes, if you have a reasonable
basis to believe that information describing the privacy concern case may
be personally identifiable even though
the employee’s name has been omitted,
you may use discretion in describing
the injury or illness on both the OSHA
300 and 301 forms. You must enter
enough information to identify the
cause of the incident and the general
severity of the injury or illness, but
you do not need to include details of an
intimate or private nature. For example, a sexual assault case could be described as ‘‘injury from assault,’’ or an
injury to a reproductive organ could be
described as ‘‘lower abdominal injury.’’
(10) What must I do to protect employee
privacy if I wish to provide access to the
OSHA Forms 300 and 301 to persons other
than government representatives, employees, former employees or authorized representatives? If you decide to voluntarily disclose the Forms to persons
other than government representatives, employees, former employees or
authorized representatives (as required
by §§ 1904.35 and 1904.40), you must remove or hide the employees’ names and
other personally identifying information, except for the following cases.
You may disclose the Forms with personally identifying information only:
(i) to an auditor or consultant hired
by the employer to evaluate the safety
and health program;
(ii) to the extent necessary for processing a claim for workers’ compensation or other insurance benefits; or
(iii) to a public health authority or
law enforcement agency for uses and
disclosures for which consent, an authorization, or opportunity to agree or
object is not required under Department of Health and Human Services
Standards for Privacy of Individually

within seven (7) calendar days of receiving information that a recordable
injury or illness has occurred.
(4) What is an equivalent form? An
equivalent form is one that has the
same information, is as readable and
understandable, and is completed using
the same instructions as the OSHA
form it replaces. Many employers use
an insurance form instead of the OSHA
301 Incident Report, or supplement an
insurance form by adding any additional information required by OSHA.
(5) May I keep my records on a computer? Yes, if the computer can produce
equivalent forms when they are needed,
as described under §§ 1904.35 and 1904.40,
you may keep your records using the
computer system.
(6) Are there situations where I do not
put the employee’s name on the forms for
privacy reasons? Yes, if you have a
‘‘privacy concern case,’’ you may not
enter the employee’s name on the
OSHA 300 Log. Instead, enter ‘‘privacy
case’’ in the space normally used for
the employee’s name. This will protect
the privacy of the injured or ill employee when another employee, a
former employee, or an authorized employee representative is provided access to the OSHA 300 Log under
§ 1904.35(b)(2). You must keep a separate, confidential list of the case numbers and employee names for your privacy concern cases so you can update
the cases and provide the information
to the government if asked to do so.
(7) How do I determine if an injury or
illness is a privacy concern case? You
must consider the following injuries or
illnesses to be privacy concern cases:
(i) An injury or illness to an intimate
body part or the reproductive system;
(ii) An injury or illness resulting
from a sexual assault;
(iii) Mental illnesses;
(iv) HIV infection, hepatitis, or tuberculosis;
(v) Needlestick injuries and cuts
from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person’s blood or
other potentially infectious material
(see § 1904.8 for definitions); and
(vi) Other illnesses, if the employee
voluntarily requests that his or her
name not be entered on the log.
(8) May I classify any other types of injuries and illnesses as privacy concern

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Occupational Safety and Health Admin., Labor
Identifiable Health
CFR 164.512.

Information,

§ 1904.31

of the injured or ill employee’s establishment, or on an OSHA 300 Log that
covers that employee’s short-term establishment.
(4) How do I record an injury or illness
when an employee of one of my establishments is injured or becomes ill while visiting or working at another of my establishments, or while working away from
any of my establishments? If the injury
or illness occurs at one of your establishments, you must record the injury
or illness on the OSHA 300 Log of the
establishment at which the injury or
illness occurred. If the employee is injured or becomes ill and is not at one of
your establishments, you must record
the case on the OSHA 300 Log at the establishment at which the employee
normally works.

45

[66 FR 6122, Jan. 19, 2001, as amended at 66
FR 52034, Oct. 12, 2001; 67 FR 77170, Dec. 17,
2002; 68 FR 38607, June 30, 2003]

Subpart D—Other OSHA Injury and
Illness Recordkeeping Requirements
§ 1904.30 Multiple business establishments.
(a) Basic requirement. You must keep
a separate OSHA 300 Log for each establishment that is expected to be in
operation for one year or longer.
(b) Implementation. (1) Do I need to
keep OSHA injury and illness records for
short-term establishments (i.e., establishments that will exist for less than a year)?
Yes, however, you do not have to keep
a separate OSHA 300 Log for each such
establishment. You may keep one
OSHA 300 Log that covers all of your
short-term establishments. You may
also include the short-term establishments’ recordable injuries and illnesses
on an OSHA 300 Log that covers shortterm establishments for individual
company divisions or geographic regions.
(2) May I keep the records for all of my
establishments at my headquarters location or at some other central location?
Yes, you may keep the records for an
establishment at your headquarters or
other central location if you can:
(i) Transmit information about the
injuries and illnesses from the establishment to the central location within
seven (7) calendar days of receiving information that a recordable injury or
illness has occurred; and
(ii) Produce and send the records
from the central location to the establishment within the time frames required by § 1904.35 and § 1904.40 when
you are required to provide records to
a government representative, employees, former employees or employee representatives.
(3) Some of my employees work at several different locations or do not work at
any of my establishments at all. How do I
record cases for these employees? You
must link each of your employees with
one of your establishments, for recordkeeping purposes. You must record the
injury and illness on the OSHA 300 Log

§ 1904.31

Covered employees.

(a) Basic requirement. You must
record on the OSHA 300 Log the recordable injuries and illnesses of all employees on your payroll, whether they
are labor, executive, hourly, salary,
part-time, seasonal, or migrant workers. You also must record the recordable injuries and illnesses that occur to
employees who are not on your payroll
if you supervise these employees on a
day-to-day basis. If your business is organized as a sole proprietorship or
partnership, the owner or partners are
not considered employees for recordkeeping purposes.
(b) Implementation. (1) If a self-employed person is injured or becomes ill
while doing work at my business, do I
need to record the injury or illness? No,
self-employed individuals are not covered by the OSH Act or this regulation.
(2) If I obtain employees from a temporary help service, employee leasing service, or personnel supply service, do I have
to record an injury or illness occurring to
one of those employees? You must record
these injuries and illnesses if you supervise these employees on a day-today basis.
(3) If an employee in my establishment
is a contractor’s employee, must I record
an injury or illness occurring to that employee? If the contractor’s employee is
under the day-to-day supervision of the
contractor, the contractor is responsible for recording the injury or illness.

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29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)
(3) How do I certify the annual summary? A company executive must certify that he or she has examined the
OSHA 300 Log and that he or she reasonably believes, based on his or her
knowledge of the process by which the
information was recorded, that the annual summary is correct and complete.
(4) Who is considered a company executive? The company executive who certifies the log must be one of the following persons:
(i) An owner of the company (only if
the company is a sole proprietorship or
partnership);
(ii) An officer of the corporation;
(iii) The highest ranking company official working at the establishment; or
(iv) The immediate supervisor of the
highest ranking company official
working at the establishment.
(5) How do I post the annual summary?
You must post a copy of the annual
summary in each establishment in a
conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily
posted. You must ensure that the posted annual summary is not altered, defaced or covered by other material.
(6) When do I have to post the annual
summary? You must post the summary
no later than February 1 of the year
following the year covered by the
records and keep the posting in place
until April 30.

If you supervise the contractor employee’s work on a day-to-day basis, you
must record the injury or illness.
(4) Must the personnel supply service,
temporary help service, employee leasing
service, or contractor also record the injuries or illnesses occurring to temporary,
leased or contract employees that I supervise on a day-to-day basis? No, you and
the temporary help service, employee
leasing service, personnel supply service, or contractor should coordinate
your efforts to make sure that each injury and illness is recorded only once:
either on your OSHA 300 Log (if you
provide day-to-day supervision) or on
the other employer’s OSHA 300 Log (if
that company provides day-to-day supervision).
§ 1904.32

Annual summary.

(a) Basic requirement. At the end of
each calendar year, you must:
(1) Review the OSHA 300 Log to
verify that the entries are complete
and accurate, and correct any deficiencies identified;
(2) Create an annual summary of injuries and illnesses recorded on the
OSHA 300 Log;
(3) Certify the summary; and
(4) Post the annual summary.
(b) Implementation. (1) How extensively
do I have to review the OSHA 300 Log entries at the end of the year? You must review the entries as extensively as necessary to make sure that they are complete and correct.
(2) How do I complete the annual summary? You must:
(i) Total the columns on the OSHA
300 Log (if you had no recordable cases,
enter zeros for each column total); and
(ii) Enter the calendar year covered,
the company’s name, establishment
name, establishment address, annual
average number of employees covered
by the OSHA 300 Log, and the total
hours worked by all employees covered
by the OSHA 300 Log.
(iii) If you are using an equivalent
form other than the OSHA 300-A summary form, as permitted under
§ 1904.6(b)(4), the summary you use
must also include the employee access
and employer penalty statements
found on the OSHA 300-A Summary
form.

§ 1904.33

Retention and updating.

(a) Basic requirement. You must save
the OSHA 300 Log, the privacy case list
(if one exists), the annual summary,
and the OSHA 301 Incident Report
forms for five (5) years following the
end of the calendar year that these
records cover.
(b) Implementation. (1) Do I have to update the OSHA 300 Log during the fiveyear storage period? Yes, during the
storage period, you must update your
stored OSHA 300 Logs to include newly
discovered recordable injuries or illnesses and to show any changes that
have occurred in the classification of
previously recorded injuries and illnesses. If the description or outcome of
a case changes, you must remove or
line out the original entry and enter
the new information.

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(2) Do I have to update the annual summary? No, you are not required to update the annual summary, but you may
do so if you wish.
(3) Do I have to update the OSHA 301
Incident Reports? No, you are not required to update the OSHA 301 Incident
Reports, but you may do so if you wish.

(ii) Who is a ‘‘personal representative’’
of an employee or former employee? A
personal representative is:
(A) Any person that the employee or
former employee designates as such, in
writing; or
(B) The legal representative of a deceased or legally incapacitated employee or former employee.
(iii) If an employee or representative
asks for access to the OSHA 300 Log,
when do I have to provide it? When an
employee, former employee, personal
representative, or authorized employee
representative asks for copies of your
current or stored OSHA 300 Log(s) for
an establishment the employee or
former employee has worked in, you
must give the requester a copy of the
relevant OSHA 300 Log(s) by the end of
the next business day.
(iv) May I remove the names of the employees or any other information from the
OSHA 300 Log before I give copies to an
employee, former employee, or employee
representative? No, you must leave the
names on the 300 Log. However, to protect the privacy of injured and ill employees, you may not record the employee’s name on the OSHA 300 Log for
certain ‘‘privacy concern cases,’’ as
specified in paragraphs 1904.29(b)(6)
through 1904.29(b)(9).
(v) If an employee or representative
asks for access to the OSHA 301 Incident
Report, when do I have to provide it?
(A) When an employee, former employee, or personal representative asks
for a copy of the OSHA 301 Incident Report describing an injury or illness to
that employee or former employee, you
must give the requester a copy of the
OSHA 301 Incident Report containing
that information by the end of the next
business day.
(B) When an authorized employee
representative asks for a copies of the
OSHA 301 Incident Reports for an establishment where the agent represents employees under a collective
bargaining agreement, you must give
copies of those forms to the authorized
employee representative within 7 calendar days. You are only required to
give the authorized employee representative information from the
OSHA 301 Incident Report section titled ‘‘Tell us about the case.’’ You
must remove all other information

§ 1904.34 Change in business ownership.
If your business changes ownership,
you are responsible for recording and
reporting work-related injuries and illnesses only for that period of the year
during which you owned the establishment. You must transfer the Part 1904
records to the new owner. The new
owner must save all records of the establishment kept by the prior owner,
as required by § 1904.33 of this Part, but
need not update or correct the records
of the prior owner.
§ 1904.35

§ 1904.35

Employee involvement.

(a) Basic requirement. Your employees
and their representatives must be involved in the recordkeeping system in
several ways.
(1) You must inform each employee
of how he or she is to report an injury
or illness to you.
(2) You must provide limited access
to your injury and illness records for
your employees and their representatives.
(b) Implementation. (1) What must I do
to make sure that employees report workrelated injuries and illnesses to me?
(i) You must set up a way for employees to report work-related injuries and
illnesses promptly; and
(ii) You must tell each employee how
to report work-related injuries and illnesses to you.
(2) Do I have to give my employees and
their representatives access to the OSHA
injury and illness records? Yes, your employees, former employees, their personal representatives, and their authorized employee representatives have
the right to access the OSHA injury
and illness records, with some limitations, as discussed below.
(i) Who is an authorized employee representative? An authorized employee
representative is an authorized collective bargaining agent of employees.

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29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)

from the copy of the OSHA 301 Incident
Report or the equivalent substitute
form that you give to the authorized
employee representative.
(vi) May I charge for the copies? No,
you may not charge for these copies
the first time they are provided. However, if one of the designated persons
asks for additional copies, you may assess a reasonable charge for retrieving
and copying the records.

requirements for State and local government entities may differ from those
for the private sector but must meet
the
requirements
of
paragraphs
1904.37(b)(1) and (b)(2).
(4) A State-Plan State may not issue
a variance to a private sector employer
and must recognize all variances issued
by Federal OSHA.
(5) A State Plan State may only
grant an injury and illness recording
and reporting variance to a State or
local government employer within the
State after obtaining approval to grant
the variance from Federal OSHA.

§ 1904.36 Prohibition against discrimination.
Section 11(c) of the Act prohibits you
from discriminating against an employee for reporting a work-related fatality, injury or illness. That provision
of the Act also protects the employee
who files a safety and health complaint, asks for access to the Part 1904
records, or otherwise exercises any
rights afforded by the OSH Act.

§ 1904.38 Variances from the recordkeeping rule.
(a) Basic requirement. If you wish to
keep records in a different manner
from the manner prescribed by the
Part 1904 regulations, you may submit
a variance petition to the Assistant
Secretary of Labor for Occupational
Safety and Health, U.S. Department of
Labor, Washington, DC 20210. You can
obtain a variance only if you can show
that your alternative recordkeeping
system:
(1) Collects the same information as
this Part requires;
(2) Meets the purposes of the Act; and
(3) Does not interfere with the administration of the Act.
(b) Implementation. (1) What do I need
to include in my variance petition? You
must include the following items in
your petition:
(i) Your name and address;
(ii) A list of the State(s) where the
variance would be used;
(iii) The address(es) of the business
establishment(s) involved;
(iv) A description of why you are
seeking a variance;
(v) A description of the different recordkeeping procedures you propose to
use;
(vi) A description of how your proposed procedures will collect the same
information as would be collected by
this Part and achieve the purpose of
the Act; and
(vii) A statement that you have informed your employees of the petition
by giving them or their authorized representative a copy of the petition and
by posting a statement summarizing

§ 1904.37 State recordkeeping regulations.
(a) Basic requirement. Some States operate their own OSHA programs, under
the authority of a State Plan approved
by OSHA. States operating OSHA-approved State Plans must have occupational injury and illness recording and
reporting requirements that are substantially identical to the requirements in this Part (see 29 CFR
1902.3(k), 29 CFR 1952.4 and 29 CFR
1956.10(i)).
(b) Implementation. (1) State-Plan
States must have the same requirements as Federal OSHA for determining which injuries and illnesses are
recordable and how they are recorded.
(2) For other Part 1904 provisions (for
example, industry exemptions, reporting of fatalities and hospitalizations,
record retention, or employee involvement), State-Plan State requirements
may be more stringent than or supplemental to the Federal requirements,
but because of the unique nature of the
national
recordkeeping
program,
States must consult with and obtain
approval of any such requirements.
(3) Although State and local government employees are not covered Federally, all State-Plan States must provide coverage, and must develop injury
and illness statistics, for these workers. State Plan recording and reporting

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Occupational Safety and Health Admin., Labor
the petition in the same way as notices
are posted under § 1903.2(a).
(2) How will the Assistant Secretary
handle my variance petition? The Assistant Secretary will take the following
steps to process your variance petition.
(i) The Assistant Secretary will offer
your employees and their authorized
representatives an opportunity to submit written data, views, and arguments
about your variance petition.
(ii) The Assistant Secretary may
allow the public to comment on your
variance petition by publishing the petition in the FEDERAL REGISTER. If the
petition is published, the notice will establish a public comment period and
may include a schedule for a public
meeting on the petition.
(iii) After reviewing your variance
petition and any comments from your
employees and the public, the Assistant Secretary will decide whether or
not your proposed recordkeeping procedures will meet the purposes of the
Act, will not otherwise interfere with
the Act, and will provide the same information as the Part 1904 regulations
provide. If your procedures meet these
criteria, the Assistant Secretary may
grant the variance subject to such conditions as he or she finds appropriate.
(iv) If the Assistant Secretary grants
your variance petition, OSHA will publish a notice in the FEDERAL REGISTER
to announce the variance. The notice
will include the practices the variance
allows you to use, any conditions that
apply, and the reasons for allowing the
variance.
(3) If I apply for a variance, may I use
my proposed recordkeeping procedures
while the Assistant Secretary is processing
the variance petition? No, alternative
recordkeeping practices are only allowed after the variance is approved.
You must comply with the Part 1904
regulations while the Assistant Secretary is reviewing your variance petition.
(4) If I have already been cited by
OSHA for not following the Part 1904 regulations, will my variance petition have
any effect on the citation and penalty?
No, in addition, the Assistant Secretary may elect not to review your
variance petition if it includes an element for which you have been cited
and the citation is still under review

§ 1904.39

by a court, an Administrative Law
Judge (ALJ), or the OSH Review Commission.
(5) If I receive a variance, may the Assistant Secretary revoke the variance at a
later date? Yes, the Assistant Secretary
may revoke your variance if he or she
has good cause. The procedures revoking a variance will follow the same
process as OSHA uses for reviewing
variance petitions, as outlined in paragraph 1904.38(b)(2). Except in cases of
willfulness or where necessary for public safety, the Assistant Secretary will:
(i) Notify you in writing of the facts
or conduct that may warrant revocation of your variance; and
(ii) Provide you, your employees, and
authorized employee representatives
with an opportunity to participate in
the revocation procedures.

Subpart E—Reporting Fatality, Injury and Illness Information to
the Government
§ 1904.39 Reporting fatalities and multiple hospitalization incidents to
OSHA.
(a) Basic requirement. Within eight (8)
hours after the death of any employee
from a work-related incident or the inpatient hospitalization of three or
more employees as a result of a workrelated incident, you must orally report the fatality/multiple hospitalization by telephone or in person to the
Area Office of the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA),
U.S. Department of Labor, that is nearest to the site of the incident. You may
also use the OSHA toll-free central
telephone number, 1–800–321–OSHA (1–
800–321–6742).
(b) Implementation. (1) If the Area Office is closed, may I report the incident by
leaving a message on OSHA’s answering
machine, faxing the area office, or sending an e-mail? No, if you can’t talk to a
person at the Area Office, you must report the fatality or multiple hospitalization incident using the 800
number.
(2) What information do I need to give
to OSHA about the incident? You must
give OSHA the following information
for each fatality or multiple hospitalization incident:
(i) The establishment name;

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29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)

(ii) The location of the incident;
(iii) The time of the incident;
(iv) The number of fatalities or hospitalized employees;
(v) The names of any injured employees;
(vi) Your contact person and his or
her phone number; and
(vii) A brief description of the incident.
(3) Do I have to report every fatality or
multiple hospitalization incident resulting
from a motor vehicle accident? No, you do
not have to report all of these incidents. If the motor vehicle accident occurs on a public street or highway, and
does not occur in a construction work
zone, you do not have to report the incident to OSHA. However, these injuries must be recorded on your OSHA
injury and illness records, if you are required to keep such records.
(4) Do I have to report a fatality or multiple hospitalization incident that occurs
on a commercial or public transportation
system? No, you do not have to call
OSHA to report a fatality or multiple
hospitalization incident if it involves a
commercial airplane, train, subway or
bus accident. However, these injuries
must be recorded on your OSHA injury
and illness records, if you are required
to keep such records.
(5) Do I have to report a fatality caused
by a heart attack at work? Yes, your
local OSHA Area Office director will
decide whether to investigate the incident, depending on the circumstances
of the heart attack.
(6) Do I have to report a fatality or hospitalization that occurs long after the incident? No, you must only report each
fatality or multiple hospitalization incident that occurs within thirty (30)
days of an incident.
(7) What if I don’t learn about an incident right away? If you do not learn of
a reportable incident at the time it occurs and the incident would otherwise
be reportable under paragraphs (a) and
(b) of this section, you must make the
report within eight (8) hours of the
time the incident is reported to you or
to any of your agent(s) or employee(s).

asks for the records you keep under
Part 1904, you must provide copies of
the records within four (4) business
hours.
(b) Implementation. (1) What government representatives have the right to get
copies of my Part 1904 records? The government representatives authorized to
receive the records are:
(i) A representative of the Secretary
of Labor conducting an inspection or
investigation under the Act;
(ii) A representative of the Secretary
of Health and Human Services (including the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health—NIOSH) conducting an investigation under section
20(b) of the Act, or
(iii) A representative of a State agency responsible for administering a
State plan approved under section 18 of
the Act.
(2) Do I have to produce the records
within four (4) hours if my records are
kept at a location in a different time zone?
OSHA will consider your response to be
timely if you give the records to the
government representative within four
(4) business hours of the request. If you
maintain the records at a location in a
different time zone, you may use the
business hours of the establishment at
which the records are located when calculating the deadline.
§ 1904.41 Annual OSHA injury and illness survey of ten or more employers.
(a) Basic requirement. If you receive
OSHA’s annual survey form, you must
fill it out and send it to OSHA or
OSHA’s designee, as stated on the survey form. You must report the following information for the year described on the form:
(1) the number of workers you employed;
(2) the number of hours worked by
your employees; and
(3) the requested information from
the records that you keep under Part
1904.
(b) Implementation. (1) Does every employer have to send data to OSHA? No,
each year, OSHA sends injury and illness survey forms to employers in certain industries. In any year, some employers will receive an OSHA survey
form and others will not. You do not

§ 1904.40 Providing records to government representatives.
(a) Basic requirement. When an authorized government representative

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§ 1904.43

(2) If I get a survey form from the BLS,
what do I have to do? If you receive a
Survey of Occupational Injuries and
Illnesses Form from the Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS), or a BLS designee, you must promptly complete the
form and return it, following the instructions contained on the survey
form.
(3) Do I have to respond to a BLS survey form if I am normally exempt from
keeping OSHA injury and illness records?
Yes, even if you are exempt from keeping injury and illness records under
§ 1904.1 to § 1904.3, the BLS may inform
you in writing that it will be collecting
injury and illness information from
you in the coming year. If you receive
such a letter, you must keep the injury
and illness records required by § 1904.5
to § 1904.15 and make a survey report
for the year covered by the survey.
(4) Do I have to answer the BLS survey
form if I am located in a State-Plan State?
Yes, all employers who receive a survey form must respond to the survey,
even those in State-Plan States.

have to send injury and illness data to
OSHA unless you receive a survey
form.
(2) How quickly do I need to respond to
an OSHA survey form? You must send
the survey reports to OSHA, or OSHA’s
designee, by mail or other means described in the survey form, within 30
calendar days, or by the date stated in
the survey form, whichever is later.
(3) Do I have to respond to an OSHA
survey form if I am normally exempt from
keeping OSHA injury and illness records?
Yes, even if you are exempt from keeping injury and illness records under
§ 1904.1 to § 1904.3, OSHA may inform
you in writing that it will be collecting
injury and illness information from
you in the following year. If you receive such a letter, you must keep the
injury and illness records required by
§ 1904.5 to § 1904.15 and make a survey
report for the year covered by the survey.
(4) Do I have to answer the OSHA survey form if I am located in a State-Plan
State? Yes, all employers who receive
survey forms must respond to the survey, even those in State-Plan States.
(5) Does this section affect OSHA’s authority to inspect my workplace? No,
nothing in this section affects OSHA’s
statutory authority to investigate conditions related to occupational safety
and health.

Subpart F—Transition From the
Former Rule
§ 1904.43 Summary and posting of the
2001 data.
(a) Basic requirement. If you were required to keep OSHA 200 Logs in 2001,
you must post a 2000 annual summary
from the OSHA 200 Log of occupational
injuries and illnesses for each establishment.
(b) Implementation. (1) What do I have
to include in the summary?
(i) You must include a copy of the totals from the 2001 OSHA 200 Log and
the following information from that
form:
(A) The calendar year covered;
(B) Your company name;
(C) The name and address of the establishment; and
(D) The certification signature, title
and date.
(ii) If no injuries or illnesses occurred
at your establishment in 2001, you
must enter zeros on the totals line and
post the 2001 summary.
(2) When am I required to summarize
and post the 2001 information?
(i) You must complete the summary
by February 1, 2002; and

§ 1904.42 Requests from the Bureau of
Labor Statistics for data.
(a) Basic requirement. If you receive a
Survey of Occupational Injuries and
Illnesses Form from the Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS), or a BLS designee, you must promptly complete the
form and return it following the instructions contained on the survey
form.
(b) Implementation. (1) Does every employer have to send data to the BLS? No,
each year, the BLS sends injury and
illness survey forms to randomly selected employers and uses the information to create the Nation’s occupational injury and illness statistics. In
any year, some employers will receive
a BLS survey form and others will not.
You do not have to send injury and illness data to the BLS unless you receive a survey form.

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29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–05 Edition)

(ii) You must post a copy of the summary in each establishment in a conspicuous place or places where notices
to employees are customarily posted.
You must ensure that the summary is
not altered, defaced or covered by
other material.
(3) You must post the 2001 summary
from February 1, 2002 to March 1, 2002.

are the base from which personnel
carry out these activities.
(1) Can one business location include
two or more establishments? Normally,
one business location has only one establishment. Under limited conditions,
the employer may consider two or
more separate businesses that share a
single location to be separate establishments. An employer may divide one
location into two or more establishments only when:
(i) Each of the establishments represents a distinctly separate business;
(ii) Each business is engaged in a different economic activity;
(iii) No one industry description in
the Standard Industrial Classification
Manual (1987) applies to the joint activities of the establishments; and
(iv) Separate reports are routinely
prepared for each establishment on the
number of employees, their wages and
salaries, sales or receipts, and other
business information. For example, if
an employer operates a construction
company at the same location as a
lumber yard, the employer may consider each business to be a separate establishment.
(2) Can an establishment include more
than one physical location? Yes, but only
under certain conditions. An employer
may combine two or more physical locations into a single establishment
only when:
(i) The employer operates the locations as a single business operation
under common management;
(ii) The locations are all located in
close proximity to each other; and
(iii) The employer keeps one set of
business records for the locations, such
as records on the number of employees,
their wages and salaries, sales or receipts, and other kinds of business information. For example, one manufacturing establishment might include the
main plant, a warehouse a few blocks
away, and an administrative services
building across the street.
(3) If an employee telecommutes from
home, is his or her home considered a separate establishment? No, for employees
who telecommute from home, the employee’s home is not a business establishment and a separate 300 Log is not
required. Employees who telecommute

§ 1904.44 Retention and updating of
old forms.
You must save your copies of the
OSHA 200 and 101 forms for five years
following the year to which they relate
and continue to provide access to the
data as though these forms were the
OSHA 300 and 301 forms. You are not
required to update your old 200 and 101
forms.
§ 1904.45 OMB control numbers under
the Paperwork Reduction Act
The following sections each contain a
collection of information requirement
which has been approved by the Office
of Management and Budget under the
control number listed
29 CFR citation

OMB Control No.

1904.4–35 ............................................................
1904.39–41 ..........................................................
1904.42 ................................................................
1904.43–44 ..........................................................

1218–0176
1218–0176
1220–0045
1218–0176

Subpart G—Definitions
§ 1904.46

Definitions.

The Act. The Act means the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29
U.S.C. 651 et seq.). The definitions contained in section 3 of the Act (29 U.S.C.
652) and related interpretations apply
to such terms when used in this Part
1904.
Establishment. An establishment is a
single physical location where business
is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed. For
activities where employees do not work
at a single physical location, such as
construction; transportation; communications, electric, gas and sanitary
services; and similar operations, the establishment is represented by main or
branch offices, terminals, stations, etc.
that either supervise such activities or

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